AshtangaNews Ashtanga Yoga Matters (as taught by Sri K Pattabhi Jois)

It’s been awhile since we shared our geeky fascination with numbers with you. See Yoga Trends on Google and Ashtanga Grows 100% in 4 Years (at least) for examples. In that post, we estimated that the Ashtanga yoga student population had grown by 100% since early 2002.

Here we take a close look at the trend in Ashtanga yoga teachers during the past four years. It looks like the number of Ashtanga yoga teachers, authorized or certified by the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute grew by 179% from February 2002 to December 2006 (which means that we underestimated student growth earlier).

Not only that, but it also seems that the rate of teacher authorizations is increasing.

Number of teachers authorized or certified by AYRI
Do you detect a trend?

This data comes from Ashtanga.com’s monthly newsletters which publishes new teachers’ names every month - we looked at all the newsletters from March 2002 until December 2006.

The total number of authorized Ashtanga teachers was 176 (including 34 certified teachers) as of December 29, 2006. Since early 2002, a total of 113 new teacher authorizations have been announced on Ashtanga.com.

The world of Ashtanga Yoga

A lot of the “travelling teachers” moved to Asia.

Japan had an especially impressive growth in Ashtanga teachers with 5 teachers authorized since early 2002, compared to one 4 years earlier. Ashtangis in Japan definitely seem enthusiastic about Ashtanga as evidenced by some of our recent posts:

• Interview of Ashtanga Practitioners in Tokyo,
• The Ashtanga Role Models of the Future,
• Yoga Fest Tokyo 2006, and
• Govinda Kai’s Vision of Yoga in Japan.

The 2 countries with the most new teachers are the United States with 62 (40 newly authorized) and the United Kingdom with 18 (12 newly authorized).

Matthew & Dominic Corigliano in Toronto, Canada
(We can’t have only graphs in this post. Boring!)

Women and men teachers are equally represented. As of December 2006, 53% of teachers were women, and since early 2002, 63% of newly authorized teachers were women. But wait! Only 10% of female teachers are certified, while 29% of the men are.

Ashtanga.com, by the way, gives the best explanation of the meanings of authorized and certified.

We had to make some assumptions to come up with these fascinating tidbits (especially those in the next graph). If you want the gory details about the assumptions, email me at yogini @ ashtanganews.com.

Growth in teachers by region…
complicated by changes to the definition of “travelling” teacher

And finally, thanks to Ashtanga.com for continually keeping everyone up to date on Ashtanga yoga as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and without which, neither of our geeky numbers posts would have been possible. Also, all the teachers listed on Ashtanga.com are authorized to teach Ashtanga yoga by AYRI.

from RealNami on Flickr

I know what posture this is! It’s one of my favorites.

Isn’t this so cute? Not as funny as KJS’ Ashtanga yoga cartoons, but we always appreciate creative yoga-related items here at AshtangaNews.

And for more funny (of the very ironic type), see YogaBeans! Now a Word from Not Our Sponsor.

In a previous post we talked about Lisa Hill from Chicago who is currently teaching in Tokyo. Here is an interview of some of her students and co-teachers from the Tokyo Yoga studio in Shibuya.

What do you think about yoga students in Tokyo?
It’s becoming more competitive. Everyone is too strict, too serious. Most people are doing only two things: yoga and work. They should enjoy doing some other stuff. Girls, especially, need to make time to find a boyfriend. Most serious practitioners are not even dating.

What do you get out of Ashtanga?
Makes my creativity sharp, and gives me power to work. If I don’t practice Ashtanga, I am not inspired to do anything but sleep. It is a source of energy. Sometimes physically, it makes me tired, but whenever I practice, my mind and heart get more energy. Ashtanga can make me exhausted. It’s hard to get heat. Practicing brings results, bringing self confidence.

Yoga for us: a source of energy

How is Lisa’s teaching different from yours?
I can understand her philosophy about Ashtanga, which is the same for me. I like it, because she teaches calmly. She feels very settled in my classes. Her style is traditional, not allowing people to skip what they don’t like and adjusting so frequently is hard. She has lots of experience teaching Mysore class and we can learn a lot. We are open to teachers coming in as long as it’s traditional.

How do you (Lisa) teach Mysore-style to someone who does not speak the same language? It must challenging dealing with injuries, “problem students” who push too much, new postures, etc.
That could be a whole article in and of itself. I don’t speak in American classes much, so language is not much of a problem. Japanese students are very tolerant. They never say “it hurts” as if they trying to keep feeling in. They can be not very honest in that sense. Sometimes maybe they should tell the teacher, “your adjustment is too hard”. Japanese students are too modest, so they hesitate to say “it’s not good”. Knowing this, I’ve been adjusting very gently, working with their own breath, not pushing them. I can tell if there is pain by looking at the student and how they are practicing. Sometimes I need a translator, but some teachers have decent English, so they can help with that. So far it has not been much of an issue. Pushing too hard, there are a couple, but they refused to listen long before I came into the scene.

Flyer for Lisa’s Workshop “adjasutomento no shingi” The Art of Adjustment

Are there any written materials or websites about Ashtanga practice and technique?
Yoga Mala, John Scott, Ashtanga Yoga for Women, yoga sutras websites in Japanese - there aren’t any websites for Ashtanga in Japanese. Except for Mindy’s blog, which gives them knowledge from some of the scene in Chicago.

What is the “workshop scene” like in Tokyo (or Japan)?
Very good. We have many good teachers who visit. Rolf Naujokat, David Swenson, John Scott, David Roche, Danny Paradise, Nancy Gilgoff, Govinda Kai, Mark Darby, Sharath, Petri Raisanen, Anthony Carlisi, Shankra Darby, Natalia Paison, Louisa Sears.

What are the differences you noticed between Ashtanga in Japan and the teachers who come from other parts of the world?
No difference. They just teach traditional Ashtanga system. We can learn lots of things from experienced teachers. We enjoy studying with the teachers. It’s very good to be taught by someone experienced. Sharing their experience is very good, but we are always looking for “our” Ashtanga.

Fun community: examples from a t-shirt competition

Ompedia welcomes you to Web 2.0.

Wiki wiki in the nonvirtual world

Wendy Spies, author of one of our most popular posts - Ashtanga During Pregnancy: One Ashtangi’s Experience - recently started a wiki about yoga.

(Yes, that’s a link to Wikipedia, which you can reach easiest by typing “wiki wiki” into Google, which is kind of funny if you’ve taken an interisland flight out of Honolulu.)

The logo on Ompedia says it all.

Back to Wendy’s project, it’s called Ompedia. The idea is that people - like us - contribute to it. So, take a look, write something and let’s see if we can help Ompedia gain some traction. There isn’t going to be much there unless you put it there.

Sunrise in Hawaii
from YogaSurf

For something sort of funny, check out the Shhhh link on Ompedia. The other pages (so far) on Ompedia are:

• Blogs: a place to list blogs of interest (or comment on the blogs listed).
• Discussions: answer some questions about yoga, like “Why do you practice?” I think this could be the most interesting section.
• History
• People: teachers, but could be any people.
• Postures
• Research: have you done any or know of any good yoga-related research?
• Travel: talk about your travel experiences related to yoga, maybe typical retreat locations

The thing about a wiki is that the contributors determine the structure. Maybe there is a page you think is missing? You can add it. And even though Wendy’s made suggestions as to what each page should cover, what it actually covers depends on what you, the writers, write on there.

So rather than wading through a million responses on EZBoard (which is great for public discussion), on Ompedia, all the information about a subject would be in one spot.

Bhavani Maki of Ashtanga Yoga Kauai
She also studies Sanskrit.

Another thing is that with Ompedia (or any wiki, for that matter) you can see the changes that have been made to that page using the History tab. Say, you make a change and then it disappears. You can see what replaced it and when. You can even register, so people can see what you’ve said and contact you (if you and they like).

I think what differentiates Ompedia from Wikipedia is that Ompedia is more personal and opinion-oriented while Wikipedia tends to be more Encyclopia Britannica-like.

But neither Ompedia or Wikipedia would be useful without contributions from readers like you.

This makes me feel that I should write a page about how to use a wiki on Ompedia…

Welcome to Tokyo!

Lisa Hill - a contributor to AshtangaNews through her many great Ashtanga photos from Chicago, Illinois - is teaching at Tokyo Yoga for three months, and kindly shared her blog, yoga and adventures in tokyo, and photos at Bindifry on Flickr with us.

What struck me about Lisa’s blog - and if you like Japan at all, you will really enjoy reading about her daily adventures living there - is the similarity between what she says about Ashtanga students in Japan, which echoed what Govinda Kai said in his post, Vision of Yoga in Japan. From Lisa:

Practice

what i absolutely loved about teaching in this studio was the dedication of the students & their gratitude towards me. every single student was serious, but not too serious (not obsessed). beautiful practices indeed and all completely traditional. there aren’t even any props in the studio to tempt them out of tradition! i am so inspired by this studio that i am going to find a way to do the same thing when i get back to chicago. the owner of the studio is doing all the right things with the right intention & it’s completely inspiring to me. there’s nothing like it at home, and soon there will be!

…i am probably working too hard-adjusting too much. it’s not like the students expect adjustments, they don’t at all. it’s just so cool to be teaching in a room where everyone, no matter what the level, works their butts off, and says “arigato” afterwards loud & clear before leaving the room, much like the greeting you get when entering a sushi bar. it’s just so cool & refreshing. i believe the japanese can be the astanga role models of the future. we have much to learn from them.

Mysore class at Tokyo Yoga

From Govinda:

I have been impressed with the yoga students here in Japan. More than anywhere else I have taught, there is a natural humility and a deep respect for whoever is teaching…This quality makes the process of learning very special, both for the student and for the teacher.

Additionally, I have been impressed by the level of dedication, passion and work ethic that is present in a large number of Japanese yoga students…It is clear to me that the deepest levels of yearning for the fruits of yoga practice (truth, expansion and liberation) are very high.

Lisa and Mindy,
who introduced her to Tokyo Yoga

Stay tuned; more to come…Lisa’s agreed to do an interview with some of the Ashtangis from Tokyo Yoga, and we are looking forward to it.

so if you like new york, you will love tokyo. its the same, only it’s japan. - yoga and adventures in tokyo

She even spied a Hello Kitty yoga mat bag!

Have any of you practiced Ashtanga in Japan? Please comment!

I was perusing the Ashtanga blogs on Ashtangi.net and saw that someone noted the lack of Ashtangi jokes out there. Other than KJS’ Ashtanga yoga cartoons, I really haven’t heard any Ashtanga jokes.

The following is not really a joke, but I think it’s funny. Somebody called Sweatybrain wrote this post. From his blog, it appears that he is in medical school. Maybe an Ashtangi neurologist (to be).

Dracula, finish up Savasana
from Anita Gould

Just want to share an amusing interaction that I had the other day with my friend dave.

me: I’m tired. Got up at 4:30 again this morning to practice yoga.

Dave: where do you practice?

me: midtown. sort of near Bryant park.

Dave: so what exactly do you do at 4:30 in the morning. Is there a class that you go to? Like vampire yoga?

me: No. I just go there and do my own thing.

Dave: so why don’t you practice at home? is there like special equipment that you use?

me: no, you just need a yoga mat. and you don’t even really need that.

Dave: so, what you are telling me is that you commute an hour a day just to use their floor?

me: uh, i guess.

Dave: then you deserve to be tired.

(end interaction)

Thanks, Sweatybrain, whoever you are!

Readers, please share your Ashtanga jokes in the Comments. Thanks!